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Harm reduction calls to action from young people who use drugs on the streets of Vancouver and Lisbon Canêdo, Joana; Sedgemore, Kali-olt; Ebbert, Kelly; Anderson, Haleigh; Dykeman, Rainbow; Kincaid, Katey; Dias, Claudia; Silva, Diana; Youth Health Advisory Council; Charlesworth, Reith; et al.

Abstract

Vancouver, Canada, and Lisbon, Portugal, are both celebrated for their world-leading harm reduction policies and programs and regarded as models for other cities contending with the effects of increasing levels of drug use in the context of growing urban poverty. However, we challenge the notion that internationally celebrated places like Lisbon and Vancouver are meeting the harm reduction needs of young people who use drugs (YPWUD; referring here to individuals between the ages of 14 and 29). In particular, the needs of YPWUD in the context of unstable housing, homelessness, and ongoing poverty—a context which we summarize here as “street involvement”—are not being adequately met. We are a group of community and academic researchers and activists working in Vancouver, Lisbon, and Pittsburgh. Most of us identify as YPWUD and have lived and living experience with the issues described in this comment. We make several calls to action to support the harm reduction needs of YPWUD in the context of street involvement in and beyond our settings.

Item Metadata

Title
Harm reduction calls to action from young people who use drugs on the streets of Vancouver and Lisbon
Creator
Canêdo, Joana; Sedgemore, Kali-olt; Ebbert, Kelly; Anderson, Haleigh; Dykeman, Rainbow; Kincaid, Katey; Dias, Claudia; Silva, Diana; Youth Health Advisory Council; Charlesworth, Reith; Knight, Rod E.; Fast, Danya
Contributor
British Columbia Centre on Substance Use
Publisher
BioMed Central
Date Issued
2022-05-04
Description
Vancouver, Canada, and Lisbon, Portugal, are both celebrated for their world-leading harm reduction policies and programs and regarded as models for other cities contending with the effects of increasing levels of drug use in the context of growing urban poverty. However, we challenge the notion that internationally celebrated places like Lisbon and Vancouver are meeting the harm reduction needs of young people who use drugs (YPWUD; referring here to individuals between the ages of 14 and 29). In particular, the needs of YPWUD in the context of unstable housing, homelessness, and ongoing poverty—a context which we summarize here as “street involvement”—are not being adequately met. We are a group of community and academic researchers and activists working in Vancouver, Lisbon, and Pittsburgh. Most of us identify as YPWUD and have lived and living experience with the issues described in this comment. We make several calls to action to support the harm reduction needs of YPWUD in the context of street involvement in and beyond our settings.
Subject
Young people who use drugs; Homelessness; Harm reduction; Activism
Genre
Article
Type
Text
Language
eng
Date Available
2022-07-11
Provider
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Rights
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
DOI
10.14288/1.0416179
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/2429/82114
Affiliation
Medicine, Faculty of; Non UBC; Medicine, Department of
Citation
Harm Reduction Journal. 2022 May 04;19(1):43
Publisher DOI
10.1186/s12954-022-00607-7
Peer Review Status
Reviewed
Scholarly Level
Faculty; Researcher; Other
Copyright Holder
The Author(s)
Rights URI
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Aggregated Source Repository
DSpace

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Rights

Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)